


The Future I Forged

by ShadowSpirit020



Series: How to Train Your Dragon: Future Visions series [1]
Category: How to Train Your Dragon (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - After College/University, Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/M, Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-14
Updated: 2021-02-03
Packaged: 2021-03-04 22:07:58
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 14,997
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25253584
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShadowSpirit020/pseuds/ShadowSpirit020
Summary: Modern AU. Hiccup Haddock's life was planned since the day he was born; to remain on his home island of Berk. Now older, he wants to get out, but no one agrees with him, not even his long-time friends. When he is allowed a lifetime to leave Berk, he jumps at the chance. However, can he continue to forge his future?
Relationships: Aedan Callahan (OC)/Astrid Hofferson, Derrick Beckett (OC)/Reagan Callahan (OC), Heather/Fishlegs Ingerman, Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III/Original Female Character(s), Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III/Riley Beckett (OC), Liam Reynolds (OC)/Atali (How to Train Your Dragon), Snotlout Jorgenson/Minden
Series: How to Train Your Dragon: Future Visions series [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1351480
Comments: 9
Kudos: 12





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> **Due to new ideas and plots, I had to take down the first version of this story. Long story short, I changed the OC I had paired with Hiccup. This OC was the original character I had made for this story, back then known as Hidden Secrets. Obviously, I changed some things with her original character to make it different, it was too similar to Katja.** **Won't be saying _what_ those changes are, as they would be spoiling. This version will not be following what I had in the Katja original (some ideas will remain but otherwise be different).**
> 
> **Please note, back w** **hen this story was known as Hidden Secrets, Riley was made for this, so it felt right to return to her. Don't worry, AWTF will return. I've decided to focus on one story at a time. When this story hits halfway, or more, I'll return to AWTF.**
> 
> **Disclaimer: I do not own HTTYD, only my OCs.**

(Haddock Residence, Isle of Berk – Thursday, March 8, 2018, 03:15 PM)

“Another college acceptance letters, not that they matter,” eighteen-year-old Hiccup Haddock, a teen with messy, auburn-hair and deep green eyes, muttered looking through the mail, there was another college acceptance letter in the pile. For the past few weeks, he’d been getting acceptance letters from various colleges, from the Barbaric Archipelago, and outside the Barbaric Archipelago. Any time Hiccup brought up the idea of attending college outside of Berk, an argument began with his parents. They thought it was too dangerous for him to be going out, they wanted him to stay on Berk where it was “safe”.

Glancing up from the mail, Hiccup saw his father’s truck in the driveway but knew his parents would still out of town, seeing as they left yesterday with their dragons, Thornado and Cloudjumper, a Thunderdrum and Stormcutter, respectively, for a double work thing.

His father, Stoick Haddock, was the Mayor of Berk Isle, and his mother, Valka Haddock, was a well-known/respected Dragon Doctor. Usually, when his parents went out of town, Hiccup was left with his Godfather, Gobber Belchson; that lasted until two years ago. Gobber managed to convince his parents to let him stay home by himself, as long as he occasionally checked up on Hiccup for Stoick and Valka.

Walking to the recycling bins, Hiccup went through the rest of the mail, finding most of it was for his parents. With one final look at the college acceptance letter, he threw it in the bin, but as he was about to walk to the front door when something caught his eye. Turning back around, he saw a corner of something brightly colored. It appeared that the letter he threw managed to uncover a bit of the colored one.

Hiccup pushed aside the paper that was covering the brightly-colored object and when he did, his eyes stared at the object in shock. It was a large, brightly-colored envelope, but what stood out to him was what was _on_ the envelope.

A gold dragon in front of the Union Jack Flag. The symbol for the United Kingdom-based Dragon Research and Protection Group: _Draconis Vitale_.

“Draconis Vitale...” Hiccup whispered, in shock. He slowly flipped the envelope over and saw that it was labeled _for_ him, full name, and address, and all. “Why is _Draconis Vitale_ sending me something... Though the better question is, why was in the trash?”

Questions were running through Hiccup's mind. He quickly made his way into the house, stopping briefly to throw the mail into the bowl on the table in the front and then making his way up to his room. Tossing his backpack on his bed, Hiccup made his way to his desk; he opened the envelope and saw a small stack of papers, one of which, was a plane ticket, in fact, two. Pushing the tickets to the side, he moved to the second paper, which appeared to be a letter.

_“Dear Mr. Hiccup Horrendous Haddock XVI,”_

Hiccup groaned at his full name; he hated that his parents named him that. Sure, his name was a family name from his ancestors, but _seriously_ , who names their child _Horrendous_. Hiccup shook his head and returned to reading.

_"We are pleased to inform you that you have been chosen for an offer to participate in an internship with Draconis Vitale.”_

Hiccup’s eyes went wide, “Me? Chosen to partake in an Internship with _the_ Draconis Vitale? But I never sent anything in?” He shook his head and returned to the letter.

_“We always select from schools around the Archipelago, and you were selected due to a high recommendation from you your principal regarding your dragon knowledge in several areas that we look for.”_

“Well, when your mother is one of the top respected Dragon Doctors in the archipelago, you do learn a few more things on dragons,” Hiccup murmured, remembering his younger years. His mother would often talk a lot about dragons, hoping the knowledge would sink into his mind, he didn’t mind, since he loved learning about dragons. Shaking his head, Hiccup returned to the letter.

_“We have attached information that goes more into a detailed description of the Internship, should you join us. This is a paid internship; we will provide transportation, food, and lodging. Should you accept this offer, your school will be notified and your time with us will count towards the required credits to graduate high school._

_If you are interested and accept this offer, please give us a call at 01632-960509 to let us know. If you do not wish to accept, please disregard this information. We look forward to your response by no later than 9 March 2018._

_Sincerely,_

_The Draconis Vitale Team"_

“ _Wow_ ,” Hiccup whispered, lowering the letter. He was still in awe that _he_ was chosen for this opportunity internship. There was still the matter of _accepting_ it.

Hiccup found himself staring at a family picture on his desk. His parents were happily smiling, each having a hand on Hiccup’s shoulder. Hiccup himself, on the other hand, had a mixture of a forced smile and a frown, showing how uncomfortable he was.

He glanced over his nightstand where he saw a picture of himself with his parents. It was a family portrait and while his parents were happily smiling, Hiccup had a mixture of a forced smile and a frown. 

“I’m not going to be happy here,” he voiced after a few minutes of thinking. Hiccup stared at his screensaver; it was a picture of a black dragon with big green eyes.

After another moment, Hiccup reached for his phone. He made up his mind, he was accepting the Internship.

. . .

(03:45 PM)

Fifteen minutes later, Hiccup was walking out of his bathroom, toiletries in hand. He put his shampoo and conditioner in travel-sized containers, making a mental note to get more when he got to the United Kingdom. He already had gotten his clothing together, the packet didn’t specify the type of clothing he should take, so Hiccup packed a range of long-sleeved, short-sleeved, jeans and shorts. He was also taking his favorite pair of sneakers, a pair of boots that he usually wore when working with the dragons, and some shoes to wear for relaxation.

Walking by his desk, Hiccup saw that his phone had only moved about 40% of his music, photos, and files to his laptop (he knew he had a lot of stuff on his phone, but he didn’t expect it to take this long). He had already deleted anything related to _Draconis Vitale_ off his phone, so when he left, his parents wouldn’t be able to get any information from them. With the tracking device that he knew was on his phone, Hiccup had no plans on taking it with him. He had enough money in his secret bank account to buy a new one when he arrived on Archi Isle.

“Now I’m actually glad Mom and Dad had to leave town for a work thing,” Hiccup murmured to himself, “Or else, I’d _never_ have been able to do this,”

While his parents did have busy jobs, they often left early in the morning, so they were back between four and five. That usually allowed them to have dinner as a family, but also prevented Hiccup from hanging out with his friends...

Friends...

Hiccup paused thinking about what his friends might think about his sudden decision. He scoffed, hours earlier during lunch, they got into an argument about him wanting to leave Berk. He left before anyone could say more, and purposely stayed as far away as he could. Unfortunately, he was stuck seeing them for the rest of the day since they shared the same afternoon classes.

A beeping sound pulled Hiccup out his thoughts. Turning to his computer, he saw that it was _finally_ done moving everything from his phone to his computer. Walking to his desk, Hiccup went to take care of his files moved, and also anything else he might need to have done. He still had to end the subscription for that art program he used, he’d buy it again another time. He was on the yearly plan so he had until next March where he could continue using the program.

Before turning his computer off, he typed a quick email to his youngest, and probably favorite cousin, Adelaide Jorgenson, that would be delivered to her tomorrow afternoon. By the time she got the email tomorrow, read it, and most likely have told her brother, Snotlout, Hiccup would be long gone. He’d probably be either on a plane heading for England _or_ already in England. That part depended on when he would catch the plane. Once sending the email, Hiccup deleted his email address. He didn’t want anyone to contact him, and he knew that once his disappearance became known, they would try that after his cell. He knew he still had his ArchiSpace **{1}** account up but decided to worry about it later.

A couple of minutes later, Hiccup was zipping up his suitcase and backpack. His laptop, drawing tablet, and any other of his electronics, were safely packed in his backpack along with some of his sketchbooks, a set of drawing pencils, and a folder holding everything Draconis Vitale sent him.

“Everything besides the passport is ready, just have to grab it from Dad’s office,” Hiccup took a moment to look around his room, this was the last time he’d be seeing it for a long while. Happy that he got everything he wanted, Hiccup turned, and walked out of his room, grabbing the suitcase as he left.

Leaving his luggage by the back door, Hiccup made his way into his father’s office. Since his parents were traveling for a week for work, they had to take their passports. His was sitting on his father’s desk, Hiccup wasn’t sure if they intentionally left it out, but he didn’t care. He had his passport and that’s all that mattered. Opening it, he found that his parents had renewed his passport just last month so it would be good for at least another ten years. Passport in hand, Hiccup returned to the kitchen. He considered leaving a note for his parents, but in the end, decided not to. By tomorrow afternoon, his former friends would know he wasn’t here and would call his parents.

Hiccup took one final look in the house, his childhood home, he did have some fond memories. However, the older he got, the more protective his parents went, causing him to have some form of rebellion. With one last look, Hiccup gathered his things and left.

. . .

(Raven Point Woods – 04:00 PM)

Leaving his house, Hiccup made his way into the forest behind. He knew the forest like the back of his hand, having explored it since he was a child. Growing up, his parents constantly told him to not go into the woods, saying it was dangerous, but Hiccup never listened. Plus, when Gobber would babysit him he let Hiccup go out, as long as he was back before dark/or whatever time Gobber told him, he never told his parents. Raven Point Woods also acted as a safe sanctuary for Hiccup, allowing him to come out and enjoy the quietness.

Besides being like a haven for him, Raven Point Woods also held a secret Hiccup had been hiding for three years. That secret was his Bonded Dragon. Since Hiccup never came to school with a dragon or even mentioned a Bonded Dragon, many students and staff believed he didn’t have one.

There was a reason he kept his Bonded Dragon a secret. The reason? His Bonded Dragon was one of the rarest dragons in the universe, a Night Fury. No one knew about him, and Hiccup planned on keeping it that way for as long as he could. With him joining Draconis Vitale, he would bring his dragon into the spotlight, but there could be some good, too. Of course, there were some downsides to Hiccup keeping his dragon a secret. He had to sneak out just to fly him, and flying his dragon was no easy feat, it also didn’t help that his dragon couldn’t fly alone.

After walking on the main path for a few more minutes, Hiccup ventured off, going right into the overgrowth. He switched his suitcase into its carry function, rolling it would not work in the thick overgrowth of ferns and whatnot. Even though Hiccup no one was following him, out of habit, he continued the same zig-zagged path he took. Another couple of minutes passed until Hiccup reached a large, cave-like opening. He looked around, just in case and again, out of habit, and once seeing no one, he entered the opening.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the cave opening, a medium-sized black dragon was creeping out of a rocky cave, with its large big green eyes looking around. Its eyes landed on Hiccup entering the area, with two bags in hand. The dragon excitedly bounded from its cave and over to Hiccup.

Seeing the black dragon making his over to him, Hiccup smiled widely, “Toothless, hey!” he said; he got his backpack off just in time as Toothless bowled him over. “Oof! Toothless!”

Toothless, as his given name, gave a toothless gummy smile to his Human. The last time he saw him was nearly a week ago, Hiccup hadn’t been able to sneak out to see Toothless due to his parents and him arguing so much about college choices–again–plus on the school days, his former friends were staying over until his parents had gotten home from work. Luckily, there was a pond in this cove so Toothless was able to hunt for himself.

Hiccup chuckled at his Bonded Dragon, “You’re crazy, but I love you for that,” Toothless cooed at him as he curved around his Bonded Human. With Toothless’ current position, that allowed Hiccup to check out his tail fin, and think about the past a bit.

Almost four years ago, Hiccup met Toothless. It was the summer before high school, and Hiccup’s parents were out of town–again–leaving him with Gobber. His godfather let him go exploring in the forest, but he had to return by early afternoon, around the time his parents could call to check up on him (that seriously annoyed him, he was entering the ninth grade). While exploring, Hiccup hadn’t been paying attention to where he was going but found himself in a large, secluded part of the forest. However, he noticed broken branches surrounding him; his curiosity got the best of him and he followed it, where he found a downed dragon.

A Downed Night Fury. A downed dragon was never a good thing either.

Even though he was in awe of seeing a real-life Night Fury, Hiccup’s instincts had him go try to free the Strike class dragon. The Night Fury was eyeing him the entire time, not liking that the Human was close by. after all, the last human tried to trap him. As soon as Hiccup did free the Night Fury, the dragon jumped on him, surprising him. Thankfully, all Hiccup did get, was a roar in the face–that was interesting to explain when his parents checked upon him–and the dragon took off.

He found the Night Fury a few days later–he wasn’t searching for it on purpose–in the Cove. The dragon was injured from the hunter’s net, and Hiccup aw he didn’t have his left tail fin. Since the dragon was still weak and injured, Hiccup decided to help it. After a few days of healing the dragon, Hiccup and the Dragon bonded, naming him Toothless for his ability to hid his teeth. Once Toothless was healed, Hiccup decided to try to get him flying again; it took time and trial and error, but he managed and created a rig allowing Hiccup to ride and control Toothless’ tailfin.

“Alrighty, the tail is good, I’ll have to fix it eventually, but it should be good for a couple of months,” Hiccup said, standing up.

Toothless gave his Bonded Human a look. He was a bit confused about what was going on, he had seen the suitcases.

Hiccup gave a forced smile, “We’re leaving bud–you and me. For good. I got an offer of a lifetime to study with a well-known Dragon Research and Rescue Group. I couldn’t pass it up,”

Toothless gave a gummy smile, he knew all about Hiccup wanting to leave. When Hiccup could escape home and meet him, his Human would rant about how he wanted out but couldn’t.

“Glad you agree bud, alright, let’s get these suitcases on...somehow...”

Thankfully, it wasn’t too hard to get his suitcases on his dragon. At first, everything was a bit awkward but Toothless eventually got over it. It would just be a short flight to Archi Isle and one of its forests. Hiccup decided early on that he would camp out in one of the forests to avoid being tracked or found. The forests on Archi Isle were known for being incredibly thick to the point it was hard for a Tracker Class dragon to even _track_ someone–which would work perfectly for Hiccup.

“Alright, Toothless, head for Archi Isle!”

* * *

{1} ArchiSpace is equivalent to our Facebook.


	2. Chapter 2

(Archi International Airport, Archi Isle – Friday, March 9, 2018)

Before heading to the airport, Hiccup went into town and got a new phone. He was lucky enough to get the same model he had before and keep the bill roughly the same price. Once that was taken care of, Hiccup quickly headed back to the forest where Toothless was and they made their way to Archi International Airport.

Landing at the Dragon Drop Off, Hiccup nearly laughed at the sight. The staff were all frozen and staring in shock and awe at Toothless. He could understand it, no Night Fury had been seen for nearly twenty years. But then again, a sighting of any Strike class dragon was rare. The manager on sight was luckily able to snap out of the shock and get everyone back to work. She took care of Toothless personally once learning Hiccup was with Draconis Vitale; he also gave the second ticket he had for Toothless to her.

Seeing Toothless all settled in, Hiccup receded into the main part of the airport so he could check himself in. He wasn’t sure if they would even let him check-in, he was about four hours early. Fortunately, Hiccup was able to check-in four hours early, which worked out for him. If any of his family or friends caught up to him, he would be safe with security in front of him, they wouldn’t get past it.

Luckily, no one found him, and with no device to try to reach him, he was even safer. On the way to his gate, Hiccup decided to stop at the Food Court for a bite to eat, he didn’t eat breakfast, if you call fish caught by your dragon breakfast. While eating, he took the time to reach out to his bank–which he knew was open–and ask about how to transfer money and whatnot. The Bank told him, that once he was settled in the United Kingdom, to give a number they gave him to call so they can take care of everything else and they would go from there. Hiccup also tried to call his godfather and unofficial Uncle, using one of the payphones, Gobber Borkson, unfortunately, he did not answer. It was then Hiccup remembered Gobber was out of the country, visiting friends from his military days in Norway and doing some work-related business there. Hiccup decided to not call Gobber’s cell phone, as he knew his godfather would ask more questions, questions Hiccup did not feel like answering today. Hiccup hung up and proceed to make his way to his gate. He had about two hours until his flight anyway.

. . .

(Berk High School, Berk Isle – March 9, 2018, 03:15 PM)

Berk High School had just finished for the weekend and all the students were either running to the buses, stopping at their lockers, or getting their dragons to head home. Adelaide Jorgenson was one of the few stoppings at their lockers before heading to the bus or stables. Sadly, Adelaide didn’t have a Bonded Dragon yet and couldn’t get a ride from her brother, even though he did have a Dragon Flyer License (he’d only had it for about four months, and to fly other people, you had to have your Flyer License for a year).

As Adelaide was pulling some textbooks from her locker, she felt her phone vibrate in her back pocket. Pulling her backpack over her shoulder, she pulled her phone out and saw a notification from her emails. Confused on who could be emailing her, she tapped it, opening her email.

To her surprise and shock, the email was from Hiccup, her cousin. Adelaide was extremely confused about why Hiccup was emailing her when he normally would text her about anything.

 _Why is Hiccup emailing me?_ Adelaide wondered, there was no subject, so she had to open to see what Hiccup sent. She opened the email and didn’t get past the first sentence before running to the Stables where she last knew her brother was. Adelaide didn’t care if she missed the bus, she would find another way home, _this_ was way more important.

. . .

(Berk High School Stables – 03:18 PM)

Adelaide let out a breath of relief when she saw her brother and his friends standing in the backfield, they hadn’t left yet. They were standing and talking about something, Adelaide was still too far away to hear. Their dragons were growling, talking among themselves, Adelaide wished she had her Bonded Dragon because she didn’t, her parents wouldn’t let her do some things alone, most times, her parents had her brother watch her or take her, and that was a bit annoying.

Adelaide spotted her brother, Snotlout, first, it wasn’t hard, his red and orange, Monstrous Nightmare, named Hookfang, was right beside him. Adelaide and Snotlout were related to Hiccup through their father, Spitelout, and his mother Valka, they were siblings. Snotlout and his dragon bonded the summer after ninth grade.

Across from her brother was the “second-in-command” of the group, Astrid Hofferson. Astrid’s Bonded Dragon was a stunning, blue, and yellow female Deadly Nadder named Stormfly, she was the fastest dragon on the team. Adelaide frequently saw Hiccup with Astrid, and made sense, they were paired in nearly every class assignment they had since elementary school.

Standing next to Astrid were the twins, Ruffnut and Tuffnut Thorston, the troublemakers of the group (as quoted by Hiccup), and the school. From what Hiccup’s told Adelaide, he was surprised they hadn’t been expelled with the crazy stunts and things they do. They shared their Bonded Dragon, a dark green-colored male Hideous Zippleback, named Barf and Belch. Adelaide never questioned their name of choice, everyone–minus Hiccup–had unique names for their dragons.

Next to Tuffnut was, Fishlegs Ingerman, the last member of their group. Fishlegs was well-skilled in dragon knowledge, usually ending up rambling about a dragon species when facing one, which he began when the group was in Dragon Training back at Berk Isle Middle School. When Hiccup wasn’t with Astrid, Adelaide could almost always find Hiccup hanging with Fishlegs, talking about dragons, more or less, talking mostly about Fishlegs’s Bonded Dragon, Meatlug, a female Gronkle. Like with the rest, Fishlegs Bonded to Meatlug the summer before Ninth Grade.

“Snotlout!”

Snotlout jumped, not expecting anyone to yell his name, and turned, eyes going wide seeing his younger sister. She was supposed to be getting on the bus! “Adelaide?! What are you doing? You’re supposed to be on the bus heading home!” he exclaimed, as Adelaide stopped in front of him and Astrid.

Adelaide rolled her eyes, annoyed that her brother would bring out his protectiveness, “I know. But I got this in my emails, you _have_ to read it,” she thrust her phone into his face, forcing Snotlout to grab it and read the email.

“What is it?” Astrid asked, leaning against Stormfly, who had moved to her Human when Adelaide came over. All the dragons have moved to their Bonded Humans.

Snotlout read who the email was from, and his eyes widen, “Hiccup?”

“Hiccup?” Astrid echoed. Hiccup never showed up at school and she was worried about her friend–and crush. He didn’t look sick yesterday when they walked home from school, so being sick was out of the question, and Hiccup didn’t seem like one to skip school–in fact, he never skipped.

Astrid’s comment caught the Twins and Fishlegs’ attention, making them stop the conversation they were having with each other. They made their way over to Jorgenson siblings and Astrid.

“What’s this about Hiccup?” Ruffnut asked, crossing her arms over her chest; Barf’s head leaning down to nuzzle his Human. She immediately rubbed her dragon’s head.

Adelaide ignored her brother’s friends, “I was confused too, but you need to read it, though,” she said.

Snotlout returned to the email, and like Adelaide, he didn’t get far, “ _Hiccup left Berk?!_ ”

. . .

(London Heathrow Airport, London, United Kingdom – 05:54 PM)

Hiccup let out a sigh as he left the Baggage Claim and headed towards the Dragon Reception Centre. It took a while, but he was _finally_ finished with Customs, Immigration, and everything else he had to deal with. Everything took nearly forty minutes, and his plane had initially landed at 5:11 pm. Hiccup hoped this delay wouldn’t make him late to meet the rest of the Interns and the Trainer that was picking them up.

**{Flashback}**

_"After Customs, head to the Dragon Reception Centre; you’ll meet the other Interns and then one of the Draconis Vitale trainers will meet you. They’ll take you and the other interns to where you’ll be staying for the duration of your Internship,”_

**{End Flashback}**

Luckily, it didn’t take long to get to the Dragon Reception Centre, there wasn’t a crowd blocking the way. Normally, people traveled by their dragon, it was easier and cheaper, and people enjoyed the time they spent with their dragon. But of course, like people flying to a foreign country, flyers still had to check into the larger airports, and go through Customs and Immigrations as well.

After speaking with one of the employees, Hiccup made his way into the waiting room. There he found someone else in the room. It was a girl, a teenager by the looks of it, with chestnut-brown hair, with what looked like platinum streaks. He couldn’t see her eyes, as they were looking down at her phone. He also saw a pile of luggage on the chair next to her; he concluded they were hers, or at least a few were hers.

Before he could speak, the girl raised her head, revealing a pair of stunning, amber eyes. Hiccup was frozen, he had never seen a pair of eyes like that, and they were beautiful.

She opened her mouth, and Hiccup thought her voice was like an angel’s, soft, yet firm. “Are you here for Draconis Vitale?” she asked.

“I-I, y-yeah,” Hiccup got out, blushing; why he was stuttering over a girl he just met!

The girl smiled, “Name’s Riley, there’s another one of us, but she went to call her family and use the bathroom,”

“T-That’s fine,” Hiccup got out, walking over to an empty seat.

Riley tilted her head at Hiccup, “Do you have family you need to call?”

“No!” Hiccup cried, confusing Riley; he cleared his throat, “I mean no. My parents are out of town... T-They knew about it and we said our good-byes already,” _Not entirely true, but Riley does not need to know the real reason–besides, I just met her._

“Alright,” Riley said with a shrug.

The two fell into a comfortable silence; Riley returned to her phone and Hiccup picked up a random magazine. He didn’t get a chance to even open it, as a new voice was heard. “Riley, I’m back. And I got another Intern,”

Hiccup watched as a female with long, dark brown-almost black-hair with green eyes, like his, enter the room. Behind her was a male teenager, with shaggy blonde hair and blue eyes–vaguely reminding Hiccup of an old friend–and pulling some luggage.

The guy stopped pulling his baggage, putting it into an upright position, he waved at Hiccup and Riley, who was looking up at him, “Soren,” he introduced.

“Hiccup,”

“Heather–Riley, are we waiting for the last two interns before introducing full?” Heather asked, looking at Riley, who was now leaning back in her chair, leg crossed, and arms crossed over her chest.

“Yes. I don’t want to repeat where I’m from, I’m going to get eyes and looks,” the brunette said, making the boys look at her in confusion.

Soren looked at Hiccup who could only shrug, he was as confused as Soren was. Heather walked over to Riley and the proceeded to talk about who knows what. Soren awkwardly made his way over to Hiccup, who nodded his head to the empty seat beside him.

The boys wouldn’t have to sit in the complete awkward silence for long. Not even a minute after Soren sat down, new voices were heard. Hiccup looked up again to find two teenagers, one with dark hair and the other, another blonde and blue eyes, enter the room.

“You lot here for Draconis Vitale?” the blonde asked, pulling the attention of Heather and Riley.

“Uh, yeah,” Hiccup said. _How many blondes will there be in this group?_

“Cool,” the female said, “So are we. Name’s Camicazi,”

“Thuggory,” the tall male next to Camicazi said, waving.

“Awesome, we’re all here then,” Riley said, making everyone turn to face her. “We can now fully introduce ourselves,”

“Fully Introduce?” Soren questioned.

“Like Names, Home Island, and/or Bonded Dragon, or we can save showing off our dragons to when we collect them,” Riley said.

“Save?” Hiccup asked or questioned. He was wondering how everyone would react to seeing Toothless. 

“Fine–Heather, you start,”

Heather sputtered, “What? Why me?”

Riley gave Heather a look, one that looked a bit intimating with her amber eyes, “Do you want me to go first?”

The others stared at Riley and Heather in confusion, did something happen before they came?

“Good point...” Heather muttered, before facing the others, “Anyway. Heather Lanvirk, from Berserker Isle,”

“Thuggory Holgerson, Meathead Island,”

“Camicazi Bogsven, Bog-Burglar Isles,”

“Uh, Soren... Soren Ostberg,” Soren said softly.

“Um, Hiccup Haddock,” Hiccup winced, “Isle of Berk,”

The Interns, minus Riley, turned at stared at Hiccup. He knew something was going to happen.

“Wait. Did you say, _Haddock_?” Heather asked. “As in like Dr. Valka Haddock, top Dragon Doctor in the Archipelago?”

Hiccup sighed, and ran a hand through his hair, “Yes. She is my mother...”

“Then, that makes Stoick Haddock, your father,” Thuggory deduced. He remembered going to various Mayor meetings with his father, his mother had died when he was a baby, and Mogadon had no babysitter, plus, he didn’t trust many to look after his only child. That resulted in Thuggory going to the various Mayor meetings his father had to attend as Meathead’s Mayor. Though, Thuggory never remembered seeing or meeting the child of Stoick Haddock of Berk... “I don’t’ remember seeing you at any of the Mayor meetings...”

“Yep,” Hiccup said, answering Thuggory’s first statement, “Parents didn’t want me there, along with they were super protective over me,” he rolled his eyes.

Riley glanced at everyone, “Do you have a parent that is a Mayor of your island or something?”

“Dad’s mayor of Meathead,” Thuggory said.

“Mom, Bog-Burglar,” Camicazi said with a casual shrug.

“Mom, Berserker Isle,” Heather added with a small smile.

Everyone turned to Soren, who was quiet during the whole exchange. “...Neither...” he muttered, looking away.

Hiccup glanced at Heather, Camicazi, and Thuggory–both who shrugged–while Riley stood up and walked over to Soren. The four watched as Riley whispered something to the Murderous Mountain teen, who nodded or shook his head to Riley’s questions. After a few moments, Riley pulled away, gave him a reassuring smile, and turned to the others.

“No questions. Soren doesn’t have to answer if he doesn’t want to, and _we will not push him_ ,” she said, in a tone that made them all quickly nod.

While the others began to speak to one another, Riley leaned back in her new seat. She did find it odd, that if they were the Ancient Viking era, three of them would have been heirs of their islands. Riley did feel left out at first, but after learning some things about Soren, she didn’t feel so bad. She was glad she wasn’t related to a mayor or higher rank person of the island but understood some parts. Her parents’ jobs were similar to being a mayor, being in the center of attention, especially when it’s not wanted.

The Archi Isle teen was pulled from her thoughts when a new voice was heard, one with a Russian accent to it. “Don’t worry, we’ll be arriving back to Draconis Castle sometime after nine, give or take, depending on how the dragons are,”

The teenagers turned to see a tall, slightly muscular tanned-skin man wearing a black jacket over a dark shirt, dark jeans, and what appeared to be combat boots. Resting on top of his messy, dark black hair was a pair of sunglasses–which confused everyone, why did he have sunglasses?

The man rolled his steel-blue colored eyes, as he listened to who he was speaking to, " _Da,_ Liam, _ya znayu_ **(*1)** _,_ " he said “Don’t worry, we’ll be fine. Darklight and I have flown from London to the castle _in the dark_ before and loads of time. Just focus on your that project, we’ll see you later, _do svidaniya_ **(*2)** ,” The man sighed, ending the phone call; when he looked up, he found the interns staring at him with wide, confused, eyes. “Sorry about that,” he said, lowering his hand with his phone, “The Bossman was just worried, as he is every year with the new interns–though this year is a bit more intense due to something else, not you’re doing,”

Riley grinned, “I can understand. My Dad’s job deals with Interns every month!”

The man laughed, “Anyway, Draconis Vitale Interns?”

“Yes,” Heather said with a nod.

“Excellent. Well then, I’m Alessio Ivashov, and I will be your Sharp class Trainer...Mentor? You know what, don’t worry about that title,” he introduced. “Just gotta make sure you’re who you are–we’ve had instances where people we did not invite tries to get in,”

“No worries,” Soren said.

“We understand,” Thuggory added.

Alessio looked at his phone, “Riley Beckett, Archi?” _Beckett... Could she be related to Dr. Derrick Beckett?_

Riley raised her hand but said nothing. She had a knowing look on her face like she knew what Alessio was thinking. Her eyes said everything: “Don’t say a word.”.

Alessio nodded, in both to her attendance and also to what her expression was saying, he moved on. “Camicazi Bogsven, Bog-Burglar?”

“Right here,”

“Hiccup Haddock, Berk,” Alessio had stared at the name before calling. He knew a Haddock, Valka Haddock, she had come by years ago, to work with their on-sight dragon doctor, but he hadn’t seen or heard of her for a while. He looked at the teen who hesitantly raised his hand.

“Here,” Hiccup said. Alessio paused, Hiccup looked exactly like the picture Moria had on her desk with Valka.

Alessio shook his head, he’d worry about it later; he made a mental note to ask Moria about Valka when they got back. “Alrighty. Thuggory Holgerson, Meathead?”

“Yo!” Thuggory made a peace sign, and Alessio laughed.

“Heather Lanvirk, Berserk?”

"Present!" Heather said with a smile.

“And Soren Ostberg, Murderous Mountains?”

“Here,”

“Good, you’re all here.” Alessio put his phone away, “Grab your things, it’s time to get your dragons!”

* * *

 **(*1):** _Da,_ Liam, _ya znayu_ is Russian for “Yes, Liam, I know,” well it is according to the Google Translator...

 **(*2):** _Do svidaniya_ is Russian for “Bye” – again according to Google Translate.


	3. Chapter 3

(Dragon Reception Centre Stables, London, UK – March 9, 2018, 06:10 PM)

The Interns stood to the side as Alessio spoke with the people in the stables. On the way to the Stables, they left their luggage with Calanthe Rochette, another employee of Draconis Vitale, who came with Alessio. Calanthe’s Stormcutter, Isis, was going to take their luggage to Draconis Castle–the _not_ headquarters of _Draconis Vitale_ –and have them placed in the Interns’ Rooms; they left a few minutes ago, leaving the Interns to watch Alessio talk with the people of the stable.

While Alessio was speaking with the Head of the Stables, another Stable Hand came running out, but to the Intern's shock, they went right for Riley. “Miss Beckett, I’m sorry, but he’s at it again,”

Riley facepalmed, “Ugh, I’m coming,” without waiting, followed the staff member.

Alessio and the Head had just finished talking when Riley and the other member walked by. He shot the Interns a look, but they could only shrug. They had no idea what was going on too.

 _“Stormbringer, calm your ass down right now! No! Don’t you dare–"_ Riley’s voice came from the barn, surprising everyone. Before anyone could say anything, there was a roar and then a blast.

Everyone whipped around, and tried to look down into the barn, but were unfortunately, unable to do. The end of the stables was darker making it hard to see. Alessio turned back to the staff member he was talking to before, trying to figure out what happened.

“What was _that_ about?” Soren asked, looking at the others. He and Riley had been facing the stables with the other four having their backs to the stables.

Everyone turned to Heather, hoping she had an idea. “I have no idea,” she admitted. “Yes, Riley and I were on the same plane ride over, but we didn’t talk much about our dragons. The most I got about her dragon was he is stubborn and moody, whatever that means. We didn’t talk more about them,”

“I wonder what type of dragon she does have, though,” Camicazi said. “There aren’t many choices for the name _“Stormbringer”_ ,”

“I don’t think it could be a Sharp or Stoker class,” Thuggory said, “None have even something related to _‘storms’_ ,”

“Tidal?” Camicazi suggested, “There’s a dragon that uses electricity,”

While the others tried to guess what type of dragon Riley was Bonded to, Hiccup stayed out of the conversation, keeping quiet. He had an idea on what type of dragon Riley had, but decided to wait before guessing. His mind was also thinking on how the others would react to seeing his dragon, a Night Fury of all dragons.

Soren opened his mouth to say something when a flash of purple caught his eye. He looked up, eyes wide, “Um, I know what kind of dragon she has,”

Hiccup followed Soren’s gaze and his eyes went wide. _No way. She couldn’t have..._

“You do, how?” Heather asked.

Soren said nothing, only pointed behind her. Heather, Thuggory, and Camicazi turned around and like Soren and Hiccup, their mouths dropped, and their eyes went wide.

Riley came walking out of the stables leading a large, dark purple dragon. A Skrill. She ignored everyone’s expressions as she walked by, leading her dragon to an area behind them. She gave Alessio a look and he quickly shook himself from his shock.

“Uh, I-Interns, why don’t you get your dragons? W-We can ask about each other’s dragons when we’re in the air,” Alessio stuttered.

“R-Right,” Hiccup said, taking the lead and to avoid making things look awkward between them. He could see Riley was slightly uncomfortable in the silence. He turned and walked into the Stable, leaving the others to run after him.

 _Time for me to shock everyone._ Hiccup thought as one of the staff members read off which Stall their dragons were in. Toothless was in the far back, he didn’t know why, but in a way, he was glad.

. . .

Alessio glanced over to Riley as the other interns ran into the stable. She was petting the Skrill, who seemed to be purring with the attention it was receiving. “So, a Skrill, huh?”

Riley looked up, she was grinning, the uncomfortable moment long forgotten, “Yup,”

“I will admit, I didn’t expect that,” the Sharp class trainer admitted.

Before Riley could answer, Camicazi’s voice could be heard. “Alessio!” Camicazi yelled, coming out of the stables with her dragon, a red Changewing, loyally following her.

“Yes, Camicazi?” Alessio asked, removing himself from where he was leaning against the stable wall.

“Were you aware of there being _two_ Strike class dragons within our group?” she asked, standing in front of their Sharp class trainer, hands on her hips.

Alessio raised an eyebrow, confused about what Camicazi was saying.

“She means, Hiccup has a Strike class dragon too, a Night Fury,” Thuggory clarified coming up behind her with his dragon, a red, orange, and black Monstrous Nightmare.

“Hiccup’s Bonded Dragon is a Night Fury?” Riley asked, standing straighter, but keeping one hand on her dragon.

“Uh, yeah,” Hiccup said, walking up Toothless trailing right behind him, toothless smile, and all.

Riley’s eyes went big, and removed herself from her dragon, much to his dismay. She knelt in front of Toothless, and smiled, which Toothless returned. “A Night Fury, woah,” Hiccup flushed and rubbed the back of his head.

Stormbringer glared at Toothless, and the Night Fury gave the Skrill a sharp look with his eyes. The two basically kept silence giving each other silent glares. The glares eventually stopped when there was a snort from either the Changewing or Monstrous Nightmare–neither Strike class could tell who did it.

Alessio whistled. “That’s impressive, having two Interns with Strike class dragons, one time we had a group that all had Sharp and Stoker class.”

“When did you bond with him?” Riley asked, rubbing under Toothless chin. Behind her, her dragon gave a huff, annoyed that he was not getting attention. “Oh, hush Stormbringer. I give you enough attention daily.”

“A little under four years ago, the summer before freshmen year of high school,” Hiccup said, walking up to this Bonded Dragon.

“Hey, what’s that on his tail?” Heather asked, kneeling next to Toothless’ tail. Her dragon, a Razorwhip, stayed next to her.

“Oh, that’s a prosthetic tail I made,” Hiccup said, revealing the tail fin. “The original tail fin was gone when I found him in the woods behind my house. I figured, since there were prosthetics for humans, why not for dragons? It took a long while but eventually, I made _this_ ,”

Alessio whistled at the sight, “Very impressive. I know for a fact; our Dragon Doctors will want to ask you questions about it. She’s had colleagues trying and failing in making prosthetics for dragons,”

Hiccup grinned, “It took me _many_ tries before I found one that worked. But I’d be happy to show them,”

Alessio smiled, “Everyone got their dragons?” he asked, looking at the Interns.

“Windshear, Razorwhip,” Heather introduced. The Razorwhip gave a growl and whipped her tail around.

“Chamel, Changewing,” Camicazi went next. “It’s the beginning part of chameleon, since both use camouflaging and all,”

“Killer,” Thuggory said, “Monstrous Nightmare.... It was a strange day,” he added, seeing the others’ looks.

“Mimic,” Soren added, walking out followed by a Dramillion, “Dramillion. Sorry, Mimic was doing his old tricks again,” he gave his dragon a glare, but the Dramillion just smiled, causing his human to eventually stop glaring.

“No worries, Stormbringer,” Riley said. “Skrill,” she added with a smirk and grin.

“Toothless, Night Fury,” Hiccup concluded.

“Who’s your dragon, Mr. Alessio?” Heather asked.

“Alessio, please,” the Sharp trainer requested, “And my dragon is...” he gave a low whistle, and a moment later, landing next to him, was a dark, gray-colored armored dragon with deep, brilliant purple eyes.

Heather’s eyes went big as she stared at the dragon in shock. “T-That’s...” she got out, pointing to the dragon.

Alessio smiled, “This is Darklight, and he is a Razorwhip,”

“What’s with the coloring?” Riley asked, “There’s nothing wrong with it,” she added, more so to the dragon, “Just curious,”

“No worries, and to answer your question, it’s because of Darklight’s past. You see, he’s a former Fighter Dragon,”

A wall of silence came out from the Interns, but then a moment later, Heather let out a screech, “WHAT?!”

“Back home, in Russia, my mother owns and operates a Dragon Rehabilitation Center, specializing with former Fighter Dragons, Darklight was one of the dragons that we had gotten in. When I met him, I was actually working on an assignment for school about Fighting dragons. I ended up spending a large majority of my free time with Darklight, unknowingly bonding with him in the process. The day I graduated high school, I went to visit him and ended up bonding with him,”

“ _Wow_ ,” Heather got out.

Alessio smiled, before scanning the Interns, “Are we ready to fly?”

“Almost, I need to check Toothless’ tail fin really quick,” Hiccup said as everyone nodded. “I checked it last night, but I prefer checking before every flight,”

“Of course,” Alessio said, understanding the need. “Go ahead, while Hiccup does that, is everyone else’s dragons ready?”

With Hiccup looking over Toothless’ tail, the other interns turned to their dragons to see how they were fairing since the flight. Riley could see Stormbringer was itching to get into the air, and looking at the other’s dragons, they were itching too.

“Hey, Riley?” Heather asked.

Riley snapped out of her thoughts and turned to the Berserker Isle native. “Before you went in, the staff called you saying it was happening _again_ , does that mean you’ve been here before?”

Riley tensed, this was something she’d really not talk about, but if she were going to be sharing a living space with the other five for the next undetermined amount of time, she’d have to reveal some things. “Um... We... My family,” she sighed, deciding which story to use. “Mom and Aedan were originally from Ireland, so we go back quite often. We could probably fly straight to Ireland, but Mom’s always stopped here and then fly to Dublin. I don’t know why she does, she just does. It works for them. So, the guys here have come to recognize and know me. Plus, Stormbringer is kinda hard _not_ to forget, ya know?”

“That’s true,” Soren said with a nod of his head.

Riley didn’t have to talk more about her family, as Hiccup announced that he and Toothless were ready for flying.

“Alright everyone, on your dragons!” Alessio called, and the Interns all equally happily scrambled onto their dragons. Once they were on, Alessio came the command, “Wings Up!”

. . .

(London, England, United Kingdom – March 9, 2018, 06:25 PM)

Riley let out a laugh as Stormbringer roared once he was in the air. She and her dragon were similar where they hated being stuck in once place for long. They enjoyed their flights too much. The brunette turned to see her fellow Interns doing the exactly the same, laughing and enjoying being in the air. All their dragons had let out happy roars once they got airborne. Riley in particular noticed how much Toothless enjoyed being in the air.

“A few flying rules!” Alessio shouted over the dragons’ wing beats and the light breeze. He was flying ahead of the Interns, leading the way.

The interns’ eyes went wide as he carefully, but expertly, maneuvered himself so he was sitting backwards, looking at the teens. He grinned, enjoying their shocked looks. “I trust Darklight with my _life_ , he’d never let anything happen to me.”

A growl from his partner confirmed it.

“Anyway, a couple of rules while we’re flying. One, no flying too far ahead of me, you guys don’t know the way and we don’t need you getting lost.” Alessio began.

The interns all gave signs they heard, either by nodding their head or their dragon let out a roar (Stormbringer and Toothless did that).

“Two, no flying _below_ the cloud line. I know it might be normal for you guys, but to avoid distractions to drivers below and people, we’ll be above. With two of you having Strike class dragons, that’s another reason for us staying above,” Riley and Hiccup gave each other looks, ones they both understood, before acknowledging Alessio. “Lastly, no tricks. I’m sure you can do them normally but seeing as we’re above the clouds and everything below us is city land, I don’t need an accident. I also do not need nor want to explain to the Bossman why we’re later than usual or someone is injured.”

“Understood,” Thuggory said.

From the corner of her eye, Riley could see Hiccup whispering something to Toothless, something he didn’t like. Another whisper from Hiccup got Toothless’ expression to change and finally he let out a growl which she hoped meant he agreed.

Hiccup looked up and noticed Riley looking at him. He blushed, “Sorry, Toothless and I are sort of kinda used to do some tricks. Luckily, I was able to coax him from doing any–uh Alessio, does HQ happen to have Salmon? It’s Toothless’ favorite fish and I was only able to get him to not to tricks by saying he’d have extra,”

Alessio grinned, “We have _plenty_ , no worries. We all have a fish our dragon prefers, Darklight’s is trout,”

“Sea Slugs?” Heather pipped in, “Their Windshear’s favorite,”

“We got that too. The Boss’s fiancée actually has a Razorwhip as well. She visits quite frequently so we have a steady supply of Wingnut’s favorite food,”

“Wingnut?” the teens echoed.

Alessio shrugged and maneuvered himself was he was sitting in the saddle correctly, “That’s what she named him, no idea.”

“We shouldn’t judge the name,” Riley said, before looking at Hiccup. “Your dragon’s name is _Toothless_ of all things and we know he is not in fact, is not _toothless_ ,”

“She’s not wrong,” Hiccup agreed, thinking back to how he named his dragon. He had been holding a fish out for the Night Fury, when he noticed he didn’t have any teeth–though he swore he saw them before. Then, the Night Fury grabbed the fish, popping his teeth out, revealing he had retractable teeth. The name “Toothless” ended up staying.

“Alright, everyone, follow me!” Alessio called, as he pushed Maelstrom to fly up into the clouds, with the interns quickly following after him.

. . .

“Hey Riley,” Heather called, signaling Windshear to fly closer to the Skrill. They’d been in the air for about an hour and half and had a little over an hour left to reach their destination.

“Yeah?” the Archi Isle native asked.

“How’d you bond with Stormbringer?”

The question had the interns, and Alessio, turn towards Riley, they were all curious. Just twenty minutes ago, Hiccup finished explaining how he met and Bonded with Toothless. The others all recounted their experiences, and Riley was the last one. Before now, no one was really brave enough to question Riley. Since Stormbringer was brought out, it appeared that Riley wasn’t up for answering any kinds of questioning involving her or Stormbringer.

 _Shoot! How to explain without revealing too much information?_ Riley thought, as she scrambled to explain. “Uh, well, dad brought Stormbringer home to do some researching on baby Skrills. I was five when we met, and we ended up creating a bond, not like _this_ Bond, but a friend one. Our real Bond happened when I was thirteen,”

“Your dad brought Stormbringer home?” Soren asked, slightly confused. “I thought with Strike class dragons, you couldn’t well do that. They’re endangered,”

Riley mentally face-palmed, noticing her mistake, “Well, yes, all Strike class dragons are endangered and there are limitations with it...” she said. “To answer on _how_ my dad was able to bring Stormbringer home. Well, you see...” she paused to take a breath, this detail she couldn’t keep hidden, no matter how much she would have liked. “My dad is a Dragon Researcher, specialized with the Strike class,”

The interns all turned and stared at her, in shock and surprise. There were many people in the Dragon Researcher career, ranging from the other common classes or even someone who studies all classes, but to meet someone that specializes with the Strike Class? That’s rare.

Hiccup opened his mouth to say something, but nothing came out. He was still in shock.

Still hanging onto Stormbringer’s saddle, Riley managed to rub the back of her neck, “Another reason I usually keep this quiet. Dad is kinda uh famous within the Dragon Research Community.”

Up in front, Alessio heard everything Riley said. He had an idea on who her father was but wasn’t going to say anything. This was something Riley would need to tell them, and when it would be. Alessio pulled his wrist out to check the time, seeing it was past eight, he figured it’d be a good time for a break, both for them and their dragons. “Hey guys,” he called back.

The teenagers paused their conversation and looked towards the Draconis Vitale Sharp class Trainer, “It’s past eight, and I think it’s a good time for a break, anyone hungry?”

“Now that he mentions it...” Soren started.

“I am getting kinda of hungry,” Camicazi added, sheepishly.

“Hadn’t eaten since lunch at school,” Hiccup admitted with a blush. Heather and Thuggory nodded their heads in agreement before a blush formed on their faces. There was a good chance their stomachs let out grumbles.

“Yeah, we’re good with that,” Riley said, speaking for the others. She too was hungry, but it usually took her longer to realize she was hungry.

Alessio smiled, “I’m going to dive down to see where we are, so stay above,” with a nod from Riley, Alessio patted Maelstrom and she drove down through the cloud line. He wasn’t long, as a moment later, he was back up, “We’re nearing Bedworth, a good area, let’s head down,”


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Happy New Years everyone! Sorry for the extremely long wait, but here it is! The fourth chapter! Enjoy!
> 
> Disclaimer: Same. I own only Riley, Soren and Mimic are owned by Nightstar Fury.

(Corley services, Warwickshire – March 9, 2018, 08:25 PM)

The future-Interns were inside the Corley Service Station finishing up their dinner, which Alessio bought for them from _Subway_ (it was the easiest choice rather than everyone going after something different). Alessio finished his quickly and went back outside to keep an eye on the dragons. Having two, extremely rare, Strike class dragons would give anyone a chance to see or take swipe at them. Now, that’s not saying the dragons couldn’t defend themselves, but Alessio would rather not have to deal with a dragon thief so early and even before the Interns were official interns for Draconis Vitale.

As they finished their dinner, the teens got talking about the top sport in the world, Dragon Racing. Heather was speaking at the moment, talking about her family and how dragon racing was in their family. “Mom’s the Mayoress of Berserker Isle, as I mentioned before, and my brother Dagur is in the Junior Dragon Racing League, Berserk Division,” she was saying.

“What about your dad?” Riley asked.

Heather frowned, “To be honest, I don’t know _where_ he is. None of us do, he vanished when we were little. He’s a dragon researcher, so we figured he has some assignment or something, but he hasn’t been seen for over ten years, I was five when I last saw him,”

Riley frowned, “Did you guys contact the BADRPA?”

“The _who_?” Camicazi, Hiccup, Thuggory, and Soren asked.

“The Barbaric Archipelago Dragon Research and Protection Agency,” Riley clarified. “It’s just easier saying BADRPA,”

“To answer your question, we did,” Heather said. “Numerous times, nothing. They had contact with him for a few months, but everything went silent. Mr. Greggory sent agents out to his last location, but nothing. For the first few years, we kept believing, but you know we couldn’t keep holding on. Mom annulled their marriage when I was fourteen, she couldn’t keep holding on, and she knew Dad would want her to be happy.”

“Is she happy now?” Hiccup asked.

Heather smiled, “She is. She’s dating someone she met through work, and he’s very nice to her and to Dagur and I. He understands what Mom went through and isn’t pushing her to do anything, he’s even mentioned he’d rather not go through a marriage again, he’s a divorcee, his children from the previous marriage get along with us and Mom too.”

“I’m sorry about your dad, but am glad your mom is happy, moving on from a relationship can’t be easy, especially when she was married for however many years,” Hiccup said.

“I for one, can agree,” Thuggory said, causing everyone to turn to him. “After Mom passed, it took Dad forever to move on. Now, he never went into another relationship, but it took him a while to get over mom’s death,”

“Do you wish you can find him?” Camicazi asked, turning the attention back to Heather.

“Yes, and no. I’d like to find some closure if he is gone,” Heather said sadly. “Dagur thought about applying for the BADRPA but ended up deciding not to. But it is thanks to them he found his Bonded Dragon,”

“What kind of dragon does he have?” Soren asked.

Riley wasn’t sure how to react when Heather got a look in her eye, “A Triple Strike, named Sleuther,”

The table went silent, their eyes went wide, and their mouths dropped. They did not expect that. Riley who was drinking ended up spitting her drink out; Soren ducked in a nick of time, luckily, no one else got sprayed.

Riley gave Soren a look, meaning she was sorry, before turning to face Heather. “Say what?!” she and Hiccup shouted.

It was a good thing that they happened to sit in the back, where not many people were located. The only people around them were the cleaning staff, but the ones that had come by had headphones on, listening to something, so their attention was elsewhere.

Heather nodded, giving them a look saying she was sorry about the sudden information. “While Dagur didn’t apply to work for the BADRPA, he did volunteer to help them out with some stuff. How he met Sleuther was one of those times. He and another Agent were doing some work and they got trapped on an island where they found an illegal dragon fighting ring.”

Everyone’s eyes went wide, as they leaned forward to each the rest of the story.

“Dagur got separated from the agent and ended up being caught, he was put in the pen with Sleuther, who wasn’t very nice mind you. After Dagur got captured, I think the agent left to get reinforcements, didn’t help that Dagur didn’t have a dragon either,”

“Did Dagur ever get out?” Soren asked.

“Yep!” Heather said with a grin, “Though he was still trapped, Dagur used the time to get to know Sleuther, which, ended up with them bonding. Dagur and Sleuther teamed up to take down the Illegal Dragon Fighting ring–the Agent and others had arrived by then–and all the dragons were freed. Though, unfortunately, many were still affected by the fighting ring, so they were taken to a rehabilitation facility. Actually, that’s where Dagur met his girlfriend too!”

“Whoa! That was amazing and it’s still cool, him finding a Strike class dragon!” Camicazi said in awe.

Riley smiled as she took a drink. _A Triple Stryke is something, but for me, it’s another Strike. Though, I wonder how Sleuther is compared to Rosethorn._ “What’s everyone else’s family with dragons like?” Riley asked, hoping to steer the conversation from the Triple Strike.

Camicazi immediately started talking about her family. Hers wasn’t very active with dragons, her mother did volunteer with the local Dragon Sanctuary in helping them. Camicazi’s mother, Bertha Bogsven, was the Mayoress of the Bog-Burglar Islands and was always trying to set a good example for the younger generation. Cami helped out quite often as well which helped her find and bond with Chamel.

Thuggory’s story was like Camicazi’s; his father, Mogadon Holgerson, was the Mayor of the Meathead Island. Like Bertha, Mogadon also tries to set examples for the younger generation but also to help the older generations who believe bonding with dragons is pointless. The teenager added in his dad was one of the older generation that didn’t believe with Bonding, but after seeing his son bond with Killer he changed his mind. Camicazi and Thuggory were also only children; Camicazi’s father was never in the picture, and she never went further. Thuggory’s confirmed his mother’s passing, a few months after his birth, and his father never remarried, staying loyal to his late wife.

When they finished, Riley turned to Soren, silently asking if he wanted to go next. The blonde teenager tensed up and quickly shook his head; the answer was clearly no. The multi-brown-haired girl gave him a small smile, letting him know all was good. She gave Thuggory and Camicazi a hard look, daring them to question Soren, neither did.

“So, uh, what about you guys?” Thuggory asked, instead, looking at Riley and Hiccup.

Hiccup paled slightly. The others already knew who his mother was, and Thuggory and Camicazi would know his father, they were the children of Mayors. Luckily, for him, Riley stepped up, speaking first.

“Dragons have always been in my life,” the multi-brunette said. “My dad is a dragon researcher, so he would bring some dragons home to study and care for them. My mother and cousin are professional dragon racers, so they were around dragons too,”

“What kind of dragons?” Heather asked.

“Mom and cousin’s?” Riley asked and Heather nodded in confirmation. “They both have Razorwhips,”

“No names?” Thuggory asked.

Riley stared Thuggory down with her sharp, amber eyes, the Meathead Island teen looked away from the stare. “No offense, but I _just_ met you guys. I’m not at the point where I can give out that personal information,”

Thuggory opened his mouth, but Soren beat him, “That’s fine. But Riley does have a point. We just met, in a way, it’s too soon to even really reveal a ton of personal information,”

Rather than answer his own to the asked question, Hiccup looked down at his watch and saw the time, “Oh, we should probably head outside to Alessio, we’ve been in here for nearly 45 minutes and I think we might still have another hour or so until we get to wherever we need to be,”

“He’s right,” Soren said, glancing up from his phone, “I just checked the map, we’re still about an hour or so away from Tarporley. I heard Alessio say it when he was on the phone with his boss when he met us,” he added.

“We should head out anyway, we’ve been in here long enough,” Riley added.

With that, everyone began to clean up their space, throw out trash and use the restroom before the next part of the journey.

. . .

(09:15 PM)

The group had been flying for about half an hour, everyone staying a bit away from each other as it was dark and hard to see each other. Hiccup and Riley were really having a hard time seeing each other so they opted to stay as far apart, for their and everyone’s safety.

“Hey everyone!” Alessio shouted, pulling the Interns’ attention. It was a little hard to see Alessio even with lanterns he gave the Interns, but they made do. “We’re nearing Draconis Vitale! Dive down”

“Right!” everyone echoed; they all gave their dragons the command to dive down, following Alessio. Once out from the clouds, the Interns stared in shock at the sight in front of them. It was spectacular since they could _see_ what they are looking at.

It was a castle. A large and amazing castle. They were lights around the castle, lighting it up, allowing the Interns to see their new living space. Not far away from the castle was a large stable, a dragon stable. They couldn’t see much else as the lights didn’t shine that far, only on the two building.

Alessio headed toward the stable, and the Interns quickly followed. Without a command, Darkbright led the way to a large area where the dragons could land. The five dragons followed the older Sharp class dragon and landed when he did. Alessio easily got off Darkbright, hitting the ground with a thud from his boots. The interns remained on their dragons, staring at the Sharp class trainer.

“Here we are, Draconis Vitale, well, technically the stables, and field one,” Alessio shrugged, as the Interns climbed off their dragons.

“It’s huge,” Camicazi got out.

Alessio grinned, “Well, it has to be, seeing as we have _dragons_ , and all,”

The Interns all chuckled or giggled at that, while Camicazi blushed a bit.

“Your dragons will each get their own stall,” Alessio explained, leading the way to the stables, and pushing open the two large doors. The sound of other dragons growling could be heard.

“Mr. Ivashov?” a voice called out.

The teens looked into the stables to see a figure walking from the shadows, he was tall, Alessio’s height, and muscular, with short, near shoulder-length dark hair and eyes. He was in a plain shirt and sweatpants with boots.

“Yeah, Jakob, I’m back, and with our future interns,” Alessio said.

The man grinned, “Well then, welcome! I’m Jakob Nielsen and I’m the head of the stables,”

“Hello,”

“Nice to meet you,”

“Hi,”

Jakob looked behind the Interns to see their dragons and his eyes went wide seeing Stormbringer and Toothless, “Are those two Strike-class dragons I see?”

Hiccup and Riley glanced at each other before stepping forward, “Yes sir,” Hiccup said.

“They’re ours. Stormbringer is mine, and Toothless is Hiccup’s,” Riley explained, as their dragons looked over or around them to look at the man.

Jakob let out a whistle, “Very impressive! Shall we get your dragons into their stalls? It’s getting late and I bet you’re all tired from traveling,”

“That’d be lovely,” Heather said with a smile.

Jakob walked behind Alessio to each a spot on the wall, which was a light switch. Lights went down the hallway, which was rather long, and the Interns could see the doors leading to _many_ stalls.

“How many stalls do you have?” Soren asked, they began to unsaddle their dragons.

“All together, we have thirty, fifteen stalls on each side, big enough for a Stormcutter dragon,” Jakob said. “Each stall is made with fireproof material but made to look like normal wood–why, I honestly have no idea–is there anything you’d like for your dragons?”

“Could I get a rock slap?” Hiccup asked, he managed to get Toothless’ saddle off, but was working on the rest of the prosthetic bit, “My dragon like to heat it up before going to sleep,”

Jakob smiled, “I’m sure we can come up with something,”

“Thanks,” Hiccup said with a smile, before turning back to Toothless’ prosthetic, he still had to undo some things to remove it.

While Hiccup did that, the other Interns, and Alessio had removed their dragons’ saddles and placed them in the Saddle Room, each having their own saddle holder.

“Is that a dragon prosthetic?” Jakob asked, coming out of the Saddle Room and noticing Hiccup haven’t finished.

“Yeah,” the Berkian said, without looking up. “Made it myself, after a ton of trial and erroring.”

Again, Jakob let out a whistle. “Now that is impressive, I’m sure Dr. Zhirkov will appreciate seeing it too,”

Hiccup removed the last bit of Toothless’s prosthetic and turned to face the Stable Head. “Dr. Zhirkov?”

“She’s one of our Dragon Doctors,” Alessio explained, making his way towards Hiccup. He had put Darkbright into his stall for the night and showed the Interns theirs. “We have two doctors; she’s been reading up about dragon prosthetic in the last couple of months. You guys will meet her tomorrow morning,"

Hiccup nodded before standing up, “Is there something I could put these in?” he held up the last bits of Toothless’s saddle.

“I’ll find something and label it, so no one mistakes it for theirs,” Jakob said, making his way into the Saddle room.

A few moments later, he came out holding a bin, “I’ll find a way to label it, for now, we can put it and Toothless’ saddle in it. I’m sure as long we have both together no one will confuse it for something else,”

“Thank you,” Hiccup gently laid the pieces into the bin, then picking up the saddle and following Jakob into the Saddle Room.

“For the time being, this can be Toothless’s spot,” Jakob said, putting the bin on a shelf, “When Mr. Reynolds come by with the tour, you’ll have your own spot,”

 _Tour?_ Hiccup thought but shook it off. “Thank you, Mr. Nielsen,”

Jakob smiled, “No worries, and please, call me Jakob. I’m not _that_ old,”

Outside of the Saddle Room, Alessio burst out laughing. Jakob made a face, rolled his eyes, and walked out of the room. “I’m only thirty-five!” he exclaimed at his co-worker, only making Alessio laugh even more.

After putting Toothless saddle near the bin, Hiccup followed Jakob outside where he saw the others making their way over. Soren had a confused look on his face–in fact, they all did, “Uh, did we miss something?”

Hiccup shrugged, “I have no idea,”

“Men complaining about their ages and being labeled as old,” Riley said, stepping forward.

Everyone turned to face her, even Jakob and Alessio.

The amber-eyed girl shrugged, with a smile, “My father is the same, and the guys he works with,”

“She’s not wrong,” Heather said, “My mom’s boyfriend, Dylan is the same,”

“Great, thanks Alessio,” Jakob said with a roll of his eyes. The trainer in question, just grinned.

Jakob rolled his eyes again at his co-worker before facing Hiccup, “I’ll put Toothless in Stall 25, it’ll be in the back on the right side,”

“Stormbringer is in 27, so right next door, hopefully he and Toothless don’t bicker…” Riley told Hiccup.

Hiccup looked down at his dragon, who stared right back at him with matching green eyes. “No getting into arguments with Stormbringer. You’re smart, you’re a Strike class dragon. Behave.” He added, firmly.

Toothless gave Hiccup a deadpanned look, but Hiccup stared back at him.

The others, sans Riley, stared at the two in wonder, awe, and confusion. They weren’t sure what was happening, but seeing Hiccup having a staring contest with his Strike-class dragon was interesting.

The staring contest continued for a couple more minutes, before Toothless finally looked away. Hiccup grinned, happy he won the contest.

Riley chuckled, causing Hiccup to look towards her. “You do this often?”

“With him? Nope, more with my cousins,” Hiccup said, trialing off slightly. _I should try to contact Addie to at least let her know I’m safe…_

Riley stared at Hiccup as he trialed off. Their first meeting had Hiccup mention he wasn’t that close to his family, and it had gotten her thinking. Riley shook her head; it wasn’t her business, and she had no reason to dig into it.

“Be good Toothless, that means going with Jakob,” Hiccup said staring at his dragon once more. Toothless stared at his human, before growling at him. “I promise, we’ll do a morning flight. This time, we’ll be able to see more of each other, which is a definite plus,” he smiled softly.

That got Riley curious and wondering, did Hiccup and Toothless not see each other a lot before coming here? Once again, she shook her head; it wasn’t her business.

“Alright, it’s late, and time for all of us to get some sleep,” Alessio said, pushing them out of the stables. “Jakob will give your dragons a quick feed before calling it a night,”

The interns all called out to their dragons, telling them goodnight and that they would see them in the morning. Dragon roars or growls could be heard replying to their humans. Toothless gave Hiccup one final look; Hiccup smiled back at his dragon, giving him a reassuring look and that everything was alright. With the final look, Toothless turned and followed Jakob, vanishing into the darkened aisle.

Riley bit her lip, the look Toothless gave Hiccup was something she couldn’t get out of her head, even if it just happened. But she was afraid on how Hiccup might react, and she didn’t want to step out of line. Whatever a Bonded Human and Dragon did was their business, she knew that.

Riley didn’t have a chance to further think about it, as Alessio’s voice pulled her thoughts back. They were walking down a lit pathway leading the to large, castle before them.


	5. Chapter 5

(Draconis Castle, Peckforton – March 9, 2018, 09:50 PM)

Alessio led the teenagers down a cobblestone lit pathway towards the large castle. Despite the low light and darkness, the teens were able to see _a few_ building outlines. One of the buildings stood out, having its lights on, there was a large sign on it, a white dragon was wrapped around a multi-colored plus sign in the center. It reminded Riley of the classic symbol for first aid.

“Over there is our Medic station,” Alessio was explaining, not stopping his pace, he was giving a walking tour it seemed. “You’ll meet the staff there tomorrow morning. Behind them is a forest area where some wild dragons’ nest and whatnot, we care for both tame and wild dragons,”

“You care for wild dragons too?” Heather asked, in surprise.

Alessio nodded, his eyes still straight, “It’s always been like that, since well, the castle has been here–I think… You’ll have to ask Liam,”

“Who?”

Alessio sighed, “Sorry, he’s the head Trainer,” before he could say more, a light turned on from a staircase. “Huh, I guess you’re meeting him tonight, come on,”

The teens glanced at each other but followed Alessio up the flight of stairs. When they reached the landing, they found a tall male standing in front of the door. He stood 6’3" with jet black shaggy hair, but that stood out was his vivid purple eyes, especially against his olive-colored skin tone. Like Jakob, he was dressed in a simple shirt, sweatpants, and boots.

Alessio turned and pointed to the man, now behind him, “Guys, this is Liam Reynolds, Head Trainer, and the co-CEO of Draconis Vitale,”

 _Co-CEO?_ Hiccup wondered.

“I’ll explain more in the morning,” Liam said with a smile, “For now, it’s getting late, and I bet you’ll all like to get some rest,”

“Yeah,” Soren said. “Did our things get to our um sleeping quarters?”

“Your luggage was left between the two rooms, the sleeping quarters are separated by gender,” Liam explained, pushing open the door and letting everyone come in. The room was lit, and was basically a large, empty area, save for some storage boxes on the wall, and a long row of lockers, small, double stacked, ones–Hiccup was reminded of the gym lockers back at Berk High School.

“Are we doing a mini-tour now?” Alessio asked, looking at Liam.

The head trainer shrugged, “Might as well, don’t need them getting lost trying to find their way to the dining hall either,” he cast a purple eye at Alessio.

“That is true–You’re referring to my first time here and getting lost for an hour, aren’t you?” the Sharp class trainer deadpanned. 

Liam grinned, “I never said that.”

Alessio glared, “But you are referring to it,” his boss simply shrugged his shoulders, causing the Russian-born to groan.

The teenagers glanced at each other, a little confused with what was happening.

Liam led the way through the room and opened a door, leading to a hallway, “This is the entrance hallway, at the other end leads to our sunroom–oh, before I forget, the room we were just in, it has a door that leads to our offices,”

“There are seven offices,” Alessio added, “Each class trainer has their own,”

Liam continued one, not bothered with Alessio cutting in, “There are six floors altogether–”

“Six floors?!” Camicazi cried, interrupting him, causing her to blush, “Sorry,”

Alessio chuckled and Liam just shook his head, “Don’t worry about it, and yeah, it’s a lot,”

Liam stopped at a set of small stairs that led up to a higher level, “Up here, is the main foyer,” walking onto the landing he pointed to his left and right where two sets of large oak-wooded doors were shut, “Left, is Library, and right is the Dining Hall, which is where we’ll eat most of our meals, you can eat wherever, there are three other rooms that lead from the kitchen to other rooms,”

“Also, the library has books on almost every class and dragon, minus Strike, since we don’t have any Strike-class dragons or trainer,” Alessio winked at Hiccup and Riley, but Liam saw it.

“What?” Liam asked, confused.

Alessio grinned and walked, over to Hiccup and Riley, standing between them and putting his arms over their shoulders. The movement surprised the two teens; their eyes wide as they stared at their future Sharp class mentor. “These two, have Strike-class dragons: Hiccup is Bonded to a Night Fury and Riley is Bonded to a Skrill,” he said.

Liam stared at Alessio for a moment, before his purple eyes went wide. “Excuse me, they _WHAT_?!”

Heather and the others jumped back in surprise, not expecting it. Hiccup and Riley flinched a bit but were unable to any more than that since Alessio had his arms over their shoulders. The trainer in question just continued to grin at his boss.

“Yep,” Alessio said, popping the ‘p’.

Liam rubbed the stop between his eyes, “Alessio, you need to not surprise me with these things,” he looked at the two teens, “Sorry about that, just surprised me, very much…”

“Not sorry,” Alessio pipped up, removing himself from the teens.

Liam glared at Alessio, then smirked, “Do I need to tell Cristyn about this?”

Alessio paled, “No. No, you don’t!”

The teenagers looked at each other–again–totally confused with what was happening. Liam merely smiled, and grinned, crossing his arms over his chest. He had a knowing look on his face.

“I don’t care what you do, but do _not_ bring my wife into this,” Alessio said, or growled out, glaring at his boss. “As awesome it is to see her get protective, I do not need her coming here from Cairngorms National Park,”

When Alessio said wife, the teens all rolled their eyes. It was adult stuff, that’s all that mattered, and they did not care nor want to get into it.

The purple-eyed male just chuckled and rolled his eyes, “Then don’t do what you did to me, and I won’t tell Cristyn, deal?”

“Deal,” Alessio said quickly, “Let’s get on with this tour…”

“Continuing with the tour, the room behind me leads to our Grand Room… Not sure what to call it, but that’ll be where I’ll give you guys missions and hold meetings,” Liam explained, “There is also a door that leads to our infirmary, our human medic station if you will. It’s led and managed by Dr. Jana Anderson, who you’ll all meet tomorrow. Oh, before I forget, do any of you have allergies? We wouldn’t want to find out when we have to take you to the hospital,”

“Strawberries and penicillin,” Hiccup said at the same time Riley added, “Penicillin,”

The Strike-class teens stared at each other in shock, not expecting the other to have a similar allergy.

“Nothing for me,” Heather and Soren said, snapping everyone out of their shock.

“Ditto,” Thuggory and Camicazi said.

Despite the initial shock with Hiccup and Riley having a similar allergy, Liam typed the information into his iPhone (which no one realized he had pulled out), then sent a text to Jana and the Kitchen Staff, Jorge. He knew both were fast asleep but would see the messages in the morning. Jana would probably blast him for sending a text late when he knew she would be asleep.

“Alright, we’ll make sure that the staff knows about it,” Liam said pocketing his phone. “Continuing with the tour, we’re standing in the Grand Foyer, and on either side of me are two of the many sets of staircases we have in the castle, yes, we have _many_. These two will take you to the second level, where most of the sleeping quarters are. Don’t worry,” he added seeing Camicazi about to ask a question, “We have elevators in the castle there’s one in the Gallery, well you enter the gallery and then take a right.”

One of the teens gave a breath of relief. Stairs were fine, but sometimes, you wanted to be lazy. There are also times if you were exhausted and did not feel like hiking upstairs, an elevator would be nice.

Liam headed for the stairs with everyone following, Alessio taking the back. Walking up the stairs, Hiccup caught sight of pictures hanging along the wall, ranging from ones of dragons to people and people standing with dragons. One of the pictures had Liam standing next to a teal-colored and yellow-gold Deadly Nadder. Next to Liam’s picture was a woman with reddish-brown hair and the same vivid, purple-colored eyes, she didn’t have a smile like Liam, but more of a neutral expression. The following picture showed a woman with black hair, dark red streaks, and the same vivid, purple eyes. The purple eyes seemed to be repeated in all the pictures… including the one at the top of the stairs… That picture showed a woman with dark, black-blonde hair, vivid, purple eyes, and an olive-colored skin tone. Underneath her picture said a name…

_Cecilia Alizah Reynolds_

Hiccup stared at the name, feeling it looked and sounded familiar, but couldn’t put his tongue on it. Before he could dwell further, a nudge took him out of his thoughts. He found Riley staring at him with her sharp, amber eyes, which motioned to the front. Liam had his back to them, typing something on his phone. On the floor in front of him, Hiccup could see a pile of luggage, their luggage.

Hiccup glanced around him, overlooking a large, dark room below. On the main level, Liam said the room in the back was the Grand Room, and Hiccup figured the darkroom was that.

“Well, here’s the second floor,” Alessio began as Liam pocketed his phone, “Yes, the room we’re overlooking is the Grand Room, just when it’s pitch black.”

Liam led them around the other side, where they had a view of the central foyer. On either side of the overhead view of the foyer, there were two closed doors. To the left of them, was a staircase that led downstairs and a hallway to the right of the stairs.

“The closed doors lead to two spare rooms,” Alessio said, “Can be used for well anything,” he shrugged, “Right now, they’re storage rooms,”

“Like, if someone got sick or something, they could stay in that room?” Soren asked.

Liam shrugged, “Yeah, something like that, we’ve never actually used it before. When my sister or parents visit, they take the guest room in our basement, Jana as access to a tower which my sister uses as her room when she visits, which is extremely rare,”

“Sister?”

“Charlie is the main CEO of Draconis Vitale,” Alessio explained, “I think you saw her picture on the staircase, she’s the one next to Liam. Reddish-brown hair and purple eyes, but then again, your entire family has purple eyes, save for her father,” he added, looking at Liam.

“Purple eyes run in the family,” was all Liam said. “And to why Charlie is rarely here, the original headquarters if you will for DV is down in London, and it’s quite a drive from there to here,”

“She doesn’t have a dragon?” Camicazi asked.

“Nope,” Liam said. “She never bonded to one in high school or college, she’s fine with it. Dragons aren’t for everyone, but she does love them. Alright, moving on, your rooms both consist of four double-sized beds, an attached full bathroom with two sinks, a walk-in closet with the space divided into four areas, and a balcony.”

Liam led them down to the end of the hallway where they found a set of stairs and another closed door and hallway, “The first door leads to your own Common Room, an area where you all can relax that’s not your dorm room. This hallway also leads down to mine, our Boulder, Stoker, and Tidal Class trainers’ quarters.”

“The hallway at the other end, leads you to mine and my wife’s, our Tracker and Mystery class trainers’ quarters,” Alessio added, he had been listening from the back, leaning against the wall. “There’s also an office space at the end of the hall, we don’t use it, but you’re welcome to use it,”

“This is the second level,” Liam shrugged, “Tomorrow after introductions, I’ll show you around the property where there is lighter too,”

“That’d be nice,” Thuggory said.

“Tomorrow, you will meet the other trainers and the staff, if possible, I’d like to see everyone in the Dining Room by 10, is that doable for you?” Liam asked.

The teens looked at each other, and a nod went through them. “Yeah, that’s fine, Mr. Reynolds,” Hiccup said, speaking for the lot of them.

Liam waved his hand, “Please, call me Liam, Mr. Reynolds is my father, the trainers will most likely ask you to call them by their first name, it’s how we are here,”

“Well, alright,” Soren said.

“Excellent, well then, I’ll see you guys tomorrow morning,” Liam said; Alessio had already headed off for his room.

“Good night,” the interns said as Liam headed off to his room. Once he was down the hall and out of sight, the teens headed back to where their luggage was.

Riley was the first to each there and began pulling them out of the pile, organizing them. She had taken her backpack (which she had carried with her since they left the airport) off and it was laying on the ground beside her, her phone laying on top. She was kneeling on the ground to do the organizing, “Um, Soren, here’s yours,” she pushed the luggage behind her.

“Thanks,”

“Camicazi,”

Another suitcase and duffle bag were pushed behind her, “Thanks,”

“Heather–I am so glad you guys have tags, or else this would have been a nightmare,” Riley said, pushing Heather’s bags out of the pile. “Thuggory,” his were pushed after Heather’s, leaving just Riley and Hiccup’s bags in the pile.

“Thanks,” the two said at the same time.

“And ours,” Riley said, standing up, stretching her back, “Gods! That hurt!” she grabbed her phone and backpack, pushing her phone into the bottle pocket on the side.

Hiccup chuckled causing him to get a glare from the amber-eyed girl. He put his hands up in surrender, then reached down to grab his duffle bags.

“Alright, so…” Hiccup said looking at the males. “Who does showers at night?”

“I do mine at night, normally,” Thuggory said.

“I do mine either,” Soren said with a shrug, “I can go first?”

“I do mine in the morning, you two can do yours now,” Hiccup said, as he and the boys headed up the stairs to their room. “Oh, good night girls, see you in the morning,”

“Goodnight, guys,” Heather said, waving to them.

Riley grabbed her bags and led the way to their new room. “What about you ladies? Who does morning or evening showers?”

“Evening showers,” Heather said, following Riley, “Hair is a mess and takes forever to dry,”

“Same,” Camicazi said with a wince, “It’s too thick, and drying in the morning takes forever.”

Riley nodded in agreement, her hair, despite being rather short, was a bitch to dry. That was the main reason she showered a night, the other and not so crazy reason was, she didn’t have to wake up early for school.

Entering their room, the girls found themselves staring at a large space (all the lights in the room were also turned on). As Liam said, there were four beds, two against the wall near the windows, one was against the wall to the left of them, and the last one was against the wall next to the fireplace., which also had a sitting area. There was a rather large nightstand between the beds against the wall and smaller nightstands next to the beds closest to them. There was a door next to the bed in the far right, and Riley guessed it led to the balcony.

The girls entered their room and immediately found the large walk-in-closet; she turned the light on and found four dressers and poles for hanging their clothing. “Closet,” she said, walking back out and went to the closed door to her left. “And the bathroom,” she added, flicking the bathroom light on. Inside was a private, walk-in-shower, a large tub, a toilet, and two sinks, there was also a small closet next to the toilet.

Leaving the bathroom, Riley grabbed her bags and went to claim her bed. Heather had picked the one against the wall near the window while Camicazi took the one next to the fireplace, and already we're beginning to unpack. Looking at the two remaining beds, Riley decided to take the one next to the balcony door.


End file.
